Male, T; (1996) Back to the Future in the UK? Current and Planned Changes to the Development of Headteachers. In: UCEA Convention 1996 - Reinventing Education: Retrospect and Prospect. University Council for Education Administration (UCEA): Louisville, Kentucky.

Preview

Text Male_1996 UCEA - Back to the Future_01.pdf - Accepted Version Download (188kB) | Preview

Abstract

Since its inception as a part of the 1994 Education Act the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) has busied itself with a series of actions which, they claim, will significantly improve the quality of the teaching force in England and Wales. The earliest manifestation of this has been the introduction of two new developments specifically geared to the role of the headteacher and the TTA have signalled their intent to introduce a third. Other measures include a reassessment of the formal system of teacher appraisal and a comprehensive review of the funding mechanisms for the continuing professional development of teachers, but it is on the headteacher's role that most effort and early work has focused. Prior to this time attempts to improve the quality of headteachers in England and Wales have been the subject of disjointed and insubstantial attempts at development programmes by central government (see accompanying paper by Linda Ellison). Until this year it has been a matter of fact that there is no common qualification for headship and role definition was the province of the hiring body which, since 1988, has been the governing body in all maintained schools. Running concurrently with this lack of systematic preparation there has been a growing understanding in the education community that leadership is the most significant quality in the management of successful schools. Various attempts to improve the quality of school management have failed both to define the role and to reach a high enough proportion of school leaders to make a difference. In the main it has been individuals seeking headships who have organised and, in many cases, paid for their own development which has usually been a postgraduate qualification in educational management. Sometimes prospective candidates have availed themselves of qualifications from business management, but usually with a focus on public service or personnel management. Now the TTA has announced the introduction of a set of national standards for the teaching force that will operate at four levels: Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT), Expert Teacher, Subject Leader and a professional qualification for Headship. Each of the four standards are to be based on the notion of competence in role for which the TTA will provide certification. Standards already exist for NQTs who now graduate with a Profile of Competence and career entry profiles. Work has also started on one of the remaining sets of standards - the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). Slightly ahead of the announcement regarding NPQH was the introduction of the Headteacher Leadership and Management Programme (Headlamp), also a TTA initiative. Headlamp is for those entering their first headship and provides funds to assist their continuing professional development within the context of their school. NPQH, on the other hand, will be the minimum entry qualification for Headship in the future. In addition to these two initiatives the TTA is also planning to introduce a 'refresh and renew' process for long serving headteachers and has appointed an advisory committee to begin work on this aspiration. The Secretary of State for Education is confident that the three processes will lead to a significant improvement in the management and leadership of schools which, in turn, will result in higher levels of academic achievement from the nation's school population. Too little work has been done on this third aspect to be able to provide further detail. Neither given the title of this paper is it relevant to talk of the support available through Headlamp which is an 'after the event' mechanism. Consequently this paper describes and analyses the work so far on NPQH.

Download activity - last month

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as JSONCSVXML

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item